


your colorful touch

by BeStillMySlashyHeart



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Infidelity, Kinda, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, assholes in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27905434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart
Summary: In a world where the very touch of your soulmate leaves a mark on your skin, Michael and Alex attempt to hide this fact and date other people. It doesn't go very well. Not that they try too hard. Especially since they're not exactly hiding the marks.
Relationships: Forrest Long/Alex Manes, Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 8
Kudos: 135





	your colorful touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reachedthebitterend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/gifts).



> This was a birthday gift I wrote a while back and just now realized it never made its way to ao3
> 
> Let's be very clear here...Michael and Alex are in fact assholes in this. But we love them anyway. Also asshole in love is not a recognized tag and i think thats a crying shame

It was a probably a bad idea, definitely a dick move, but Alex was just drunk enough not to care.

He watched Maria hang off of Michael’s arm, watched her trail her fingers up his bare forearm as she walked away, and he got up from his stool, walked over to Michael, and dragged his fingers along the path Maria had just traced. Michael was too startled to move away and only stared at Alex in surprise and then suspicion. “Alex?” He asked when Alex turned to leave without a word. Alex didn’t say anything, didn’t even look back at him as he walked back over to his stool. The entire encounter had taken less than 30 seconds. Maria came out of the back and walked over to Michael just as he sat down and he drained his glass as he heard her squeal in excitement. “Oh my god!” She half-yelled. “Michael!”

There was a mirror over the bar that showed the rest of the room and Alex stared at Michael and Maria’s reflections in it. Michael hadn’t moved from where Alex left him. Maria was standing in front of him, clutching his hand excitedly as she stared down at his forearm. Bright colorful lines marred his skin in the exact pattern Maria (and then Alex) had traced. 

“I’m your soulmate!” Maria realized in a hushed yell. Michael stared at her wide eyed but didn’t say anything as she kissed him and then hugged him. Over her shoulder, Michael glared at Alex across the bar, their eyes meeting in the mirror. Alex offered him a smirk before looking away.

As Maria chattered on happily behind him, he stared down at his finger and the colorful mark on its tip that perfectly matched the colors on Michael’s skin. 

“Want another?” Logan, the bartender asked. He glanced over Alex’s shoulder and then back at him. “On the house?”

Alex exhaled heavily and nodded.

—

It’s a bit cruel of him, he knows. But honestly, Maria should know better. If her touch only leaves a mark sometimes, and is only showing up just now after them having known each other for years and been dating for months, then there’s probably some other explanation for it. Everybody knows that the touch of your soulmate leaves a colored mark on your skin. Everybody knows that this happens at the first touch and every touch thereafter. 

Everybody knows.

So it’s not Alex’s fault that Maria thinks she’s Michael’s soulmate. Even if he does purposefully leaves marks on Michael’s skin in the exact places he sees her touch him. 

In his very terrible defense, he only does it when he’s drunk and pissed off. When he’s in his right mind he knows better.

—

Maria grabbed Michael’s face with both hands and gave him a quick kiss before she disappeared into the back to deal with a problem and left Michael and Alex sitting next to each other in a secluded booth, Liz, Kyle, and Max having already disappeared to get another round of drinks.

Alex was drunk but not drunk enough to fuck with Michael’s marks but Michael turned to him with a heavy amount of suspicion and Alex abruptly changed his mind. “What would you do if I kissed you right now?” He asked first. Touching Michael’s arms or brushing against his hand is one thing, grabbing his face and kissing him is something very different. 

“Alex,” Michael replied, a warning in his voice. But he didn’t say no and he didn’t move away. In fact, he leaned closer towards Alex. 

Alex ignored the movement and asked again, “what would you do?”

“You’re an asshole,” Michael said but he reached for Alex’s collar and pulled him closer so Alex didn’t take it to heart. He waited for Michael to lean in first before putting his hands right where he’d seen Maria’s and kissed him. It wasn’t a long kiss but neither was it too brief.

The sound of Liz’s voice and three sets of footsteps had Alex pulled back. In an instant, they put enough space between them to fit three people and somehow look convincingly nonchalant when the Liz, Max, and Kyle appeared with drinks in hand. Michael stood up to let them into the booth and they quickly dispersed the drinks. Alex took his with a nod of thanks to Kyle and watched as the color blossomed on Michael’s face. It wasn’t immediate. First, there was a splotch of green on his cheek from where Alex’s palm had held it. From there, it darkened and changed to blue closer to his lips. A few moments later, a purple mark appeared on his opposite cheek, turning pink as the fingers appeared stretching towards his hair. 

“Nice one, Mikey,” Liz laughed. She reached out and traced over the edges of the mark as it filled in into a definite hand print, her finger not quite touching his skin. Kyle looked at the marks then over at Alex, his eyes lowering to Alex’s hands with a raised eyebrow. Alex turned them over to lay flat against the table, palms down, without even looking at them. 

“Wow,” Maria marveled as she slid into the booth next to Michael. “It’s beautiful.” 

Two things happened at once, then. First, Alex realized Maria was going to put her hand over the mark and be forced to acknowledge that the mark did not match her hands at all. And second, Michael’s eyes snapped to Alex’s face and stared at his lips for a heartbeat before meeting Alex’s eyes and pointedly licking his lips. 

“I’m heading out,” Alex didn’t stay to mumble any pleasantries. He slid his hands off the table and shoved them in his pockets as he stood up and fled. Liz called after him but he ignored her.

His only hesitation came when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the bar and saw that his lips were turning gold. Cursing softly but earnestly he ducked his head and slipped out the door. 

“Alex!” Kyle’s shout was loud in dead stillness of the night. Alex froze but didn’t turn around. He listened Kyle’s steps behind him until the man came around to face him. “I want to ask if you just found out but I’m pretty sure that’d be the most latent case of soulmates ever recorded.” Alex didn’t say anything. “Why is with Maria?”

“Ask him.”

“Alex,” Kyle chided softly. “Why are you doing this?”

Alex shrugged. “Usually I’m drunk and drunk me thinks it’s hilarious.” Kyle frowned, his disappointment clear on his face. “Look, it’s not a guarantee or anything. You know that. It’s more of a guideline.”

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “But most people who ignore that guideline don’t usually go around leaving marks on the other person for fun to screw with their girlfriend.” Alex looked away. “Alex…” he sighed. “I can’t take you seriously right now. Your lips are glowing.”

Alex glanced at a nearby car and rolled his eyes. His reflection was muddled but his lips stood out like a beacon. “Good night, Kyle.”

—

Alex should have expected it, really. Turnabout’s fair play and all that. But then, Michael could have stayed. He could have been there when Alex was done singing and he could have let Alex kiss him instead. But instead he left. He walked out and Alex kissed Forrest and that should have been the end of it.

Except if Alex was an asshole, so was Michael.

Forrest had gotten up to use the restroom and not even ten seconds later, Michael had taken his seat. “What would you do if I kissed you right now?” 

“Guerin,” Alex warned. But he didn’t say no.

Michael took it as the invitation Alex had let it be and kissed him. It was hardly a kiss, the whisper of Michael’s lips on his there and then gone before Alex could savor it. In its wake, Michael got up and disappeared into the shadowy corners of the bar. Alex thought about getting up and going to find him but Forrest sat back down and he couldn’t.

“Hey,” Forrest whispered. His finger traced the back of Alex’s hand. Alex looked down to see a mark blooming on the skin. “Am I your soulmate?” He asked softly. His eyes flickered over to Alex’s other hand, the smile on his face widening when he spotted another mark. Slowly, his eyes lifted to Alex’s face and his eyes crinkled as he beamed. “I am.” He lifted a finger and traced over Alex’s lips. “Wow.”

Alex legitimately did not know what to say, his mind stuck on the fact that Michael had known that Forrest touched his hands and made sure to leave a mark there. He thought back to when he’d finished his song and tried to figure out where Michael had been hiding when he kissed Forrest. 

Forrest kissed him, short and hard. He was smiling too widely for it to be any good. “I’m your soulmate!” He laughed and Alex forced a smile in return.

“Did you leave a mark on me?” He twisted his hands to see if he had any marks, his movements stilling when he realized his hands and fingers were bare. He let out a soft, “oh.”

“Forrest,” Alex started.

“It’s okay,” Forrest shook his head. He took Alex’s hands in his own. “I’m your soulmate.” He was still smiling as he leaned in to kiss Alex again.

Alex’s soft ‘fuck’ went unheard between them.

—

Alex had a new kind of sympathy for what he’d put Michael through with Maria. It was very uncomfortable dating someone who thought they were your soulmate when you knew different. Alex had no idea how to even approach the idea of correcting Forrest and Michael wasn’t helping. After three weeks, he was fairly certain Michael might be stalking them. Almost every time Alex and Forrest were together, Michael would show up and orchestrate some scenario that allowed him to leave the precise kind of mark on Alex to perpetuate the lie. 

Twice, they had drinks at the Pony with Kyle and Alex was subjected to the worst judgey looks he’d ever been on the receiving of. Kyle never said a word but his disapproval was palpable.

“I’ll get us another round,” Forrest offered one night. He was up and halfway to the bar before anyone could object. 

“Alex-” Kyle started. He cut himself off abruptly when Michael slid into Forrest’s seat. Alex didn’t react. Michael had been eyeing them for the last hour, waiting for his opportunity and he didn’t waste it. He slid a hand up and around Alex’s neck and into his hair. Forrest had been playing with it earlier when Kyle got the last round but his touch hadn’t done anything for Alex. Not like now when Michael’s touch sent shivers down his spine and he arched his neck into it. “ _Really_?” Kyle asked. 

Alex and Michael ignored him.

Michael had about one minute to replace all of Forrest’s touches with his own and he didn’t waste any time, his fingers trailing everywhere Forrest had even grazed Alex’s skin earlier. His accuracy was uncanny, on par with Alex’s own when he’d kept a careful eye on Michael and Maria in the weeks previous. When he was finished, Michael got up and left without a word and Alex’s skin tingled, aching for more of his touch.

“ _Alex_.” 

Forrest sat back down and handed Kyle his beer. “What did I miss?” His only response was an eye roll from Kyle.

—

Alex made it another week before he cracked. He and Forrest hadn’t slept together even though they both wanted to and he was running out of reasons for why they shouldn’t. The honest answer was that he wouldn’t be able to explain why his skin was bare of any marks afterwards. The really honest answer was that he wanted Michael more than he could ever want Forrest. 

Neither of those reasons were something Alex wanted to admit to the man. 

So he showed him.

In the end it came down to an innocent touch. Michael walked up to them on the street and stopped Alex to tell him something and when they parted, Alex held out his hand for Michael to shake. Michael stared at it then over at where Forrest stood next to Alex, then to Alex. He raised an eyebrow and Alex held out his hand a little bit further. Michael shrugged and shook it.

Alex held on for a moment, letting the touch linger, before pulling away. 

“See you around,” Forrest told Michael. He took a step forward to continue on their way but froze when Alex turned his hand over, his palm facing up. Michael mirrored his position and the three of them watched as color bloomed on their hands. “…what?”

—

“We’re assholes,” Alex grumbled. Michael hummed in agreement. 

After the handshake earlier, Alex had let Forrest yell at him right there on the sidewalk but made his exit before that anger turned to anything else. He’d gone home and was utterly unsurprised to find Michael already in his driveway. They hadn’t spoken as Alex let them into the house, hadn’t said a word as Michael raided his fridge for beer and handed one to Alex, hadn’t made a peep as they drank one and then two and then three beers each on Alex’s couch.

“It’s why we’re good together,” Michael finally said. Alex scoffed softly. Those weren’t words either of them had ever used to describe their relationship. Michael tilted his head and looked up at Alex. “Alex?”

“Yeah Michael?”

“Can I come home now?”

Alex froze. “What?”

“Your song…” was all Michael offered.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked. Michael nodded. “I need you to be absolutely certain.”

Michael sat up and faced him. “I’m positive. I miss you, Alex. All the time, even when you’re right next to me. It’s not enough. Every time I see my mark on you, it’s like a tease of what it could be but right now it’s not enough.” Michael took Alex’s hands in his. “I want to come home. I want to come home to you.”

Alex surged forward and kissed him. The movement knocked Michael off balance and they tumbled off the couch to the floor but they didn’t let that stop them.

(In the morning, every inch of their skin was covered. Kyle stopped by with lunch and promptly declared them both eyesores.)


End file.
